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18/08/2014

TEN GOOD REASONS (NOT) TO WATCH OUTLANDER

Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser

1. Jamie
Fraser.

Once you meet him, the least that can happen to you is that you get a crush on him. But, watch yourself! You risk to fall desperately in love with him, become obsessed with him, and there’s no way back! Mind you: you're warned.

And even if you come to accept he is just a fictional character and renounce finding his alter ego in real life, still you’ll go on comparing every man around you to him and … sigh!

Caitriona Balfe as Claire

2. Claire Beauchamp

If you compare yourself to Mistress Beauchamp, instead, you’ll start feeling so envious and so unsatisfied with yourself. She is very, very lucky. Smart, brave, blunt, strong. And beautiful, of course! Who of us would survive what she has to go through? She has the right skills to face all the troubles she is confronted with, instead. Could you sling dislocated bones back to their right place? Cure any kind of desease? Attend disgusting injuries without panicking? Treat people with plants and herbs? Marry a gorgeous young man though you are already married and apparently in love with your husband? Well, no, actually, there are no special skills required in this case. You’d need a very strong masochistic tendency to resist the temptation to say : “Yes, I will gladly take a second husband if his name is Jamie Alexander Malcom MacKenzie Fraser." No, definitely, Claire is not good for your self-esteem.

3. Bigamy. You’ll start wondering if that is such a terribly wrong thing after all …

4.Scotland and stone circles. Stunning scenarios,
breath-taking landscapes, lush wilderness ... and you’ll begin to plan your next
journey, wherever you live. Never mind the cost of the ticket flight. Never mind if it often rains. You’ll
long to be there, in that incredible land with those bleak castles, and you will start circling all the stone circles
on your Scotland’s map.

5. Gaelic.

You’ll start quoting Gaelic words here and there and will find yourself inviting people to join you, no matter where, shouting enthusiastically , “Tùlach Ard”, or to call your English friends “Sassenachs” and toast with mates saying “Slàinte Mhath”. Never mind their puzzled looks! “Dinna fash!”

6. The kilt.

You’ll start thinking that a man in a skirt is the sexiest thing on earth and your husband or boyfriend will stare at you very worried.

7. Horses

What cars? Horses are so exciting, especially if you could share a saddle with a certain gorgeous, kilted rider. You can't go horse-riding to your office just to train and get ready. And it will be quite an expensive hobby to take up, you know.

8. Witches & time travelling

You’ll start wondering if witches were not just unlucky women travelling through time, poor creatures. Why did they ever want to burn them? Because at that point you'll be convinced that time travelling is possible, all you need is just the right stone circle...

Claire, "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, Jamie! I should go back to my husband, you ken! "

9. Male virginity

What? Experienced lovers as husbands? No, thanks. You’ll see : there will be a certain wedding night, a newly married couple, he a virgin and she a “widow” , and you’ll begin to hold on to a new motto: “Younger and virgin”. It is a rare combination, but so much better. Loose morals, that's what else you risk! (see also 3. Bigamy above)

14 comments:

Interesting. Although I'm not so keen on time travelling stories, it looks quite appealing! Odd enough, the show has not arrived in the UK yet. Still looking for a platform to broadcast it. See http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/outlander-makers-in-search-to-find-broadcaster-in-uk.25067815. Thanks for recommending it. Ciao Antonella

Oh, I am SO HOOKED! When STARZ sent me the ads for this series online I had to read the book...now books and then they sent me the first episode free. I plan my weekend around being home in time to see this. Although they do show the episodes multiple times on STARZ during the week. Jamie is so fine!

I loved this post! Thank you for making me laugh. I was nodding my head in agreement... as I have been totally obsessed with all things Outlander since I watched the first episode a few weeks ago and have since been reading the books. (On #3 at the moment.) Damn that Jamie Fraser!!!

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I've been an English teacher for a long time now and a blogger for quite a while. I love classic literature, reading, theatre, period drama, art and that is what I usually write about on FLY HIGH and My Jane Austen Book Club. I'd love to hear from you! Leave your comments to my posts or send e-mail messages to learnonline.mgs@gmail.com.

"The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space."— Italo Calvino

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